Learning to Live and to Love
by anon134
Summary: Derek starts to Change in Syracuse, with Chloe at his side. What would a run in with the pack change? Will they help fight against the Edison Group? Or will they punish this mutt for entering their territory?
1. Chapter 1

_AN: Imagine what could have happened if Derek started to change while they were at Syracuse instead of at the truck stop in Albany. I personally think it could be a lot of fun._

_So some key information before you read a little more, well hopefully read a little more =)_

_I hope you all like it and if you have any thoughts you're more then welcome to leave me a review or send me an e-mail to __rockchick134hotmail(dot)com_

_The first part of this fanfiction has been taken from the book and altered slightly, I mean no harm and the book and its characters are all property of Kelley Armstrong._

I fell asleep and dreamed of Derek—about what he'd said, about what the demi-demon had said about him, about the other werewolf subjects. I dreamed of Aunt Lauren at the facility, saying she wanted Derek put down like a rabid dog and of Brady saying how Aunt Lauren had tried to get him to blame Derek for their fight.

The memories and the images swirled until I felt someone shaking my shoulder. I woke up to realize the bus had stopped. Derek was in the aisle, leaning past Simon, who was asleep.

I was about to ask what was wrong. Then I looked at Derek and knew. His eyes glittered, ad his skin glistened with sweat; his hair was plastered down with it. I could feel the heat of his hand through my shirt.

I shot up. 'You're--'

'Yeah' he whispered. 'We're at the bus stop in Syracuse. I gotta get off.'

I reached to wake Simon, but Derek stopped me. 'I just wanted to tell you, in case I don't get back on. I'll be fine. I'll meet you at Andrew's.'

I grabbed my sweatshirt, jacket and backpack. 'I'm coming with you.'

I was sure he'd argue, but he only nodded, face averted murmuring 'Yeah, okay.'

'You go ahead,' I said, 'I'll talk to... Tori.'

I'd have to, better to tell the person who'd never insist on following us. So I did that and then hurried after Derek.

I caught up with Derek at the edge of the bus stop. We hurried towards a wooded patch.

'I need to get in as deep as I can,' he said. 'Follow my path, it's muddy.'

I could smell the rain, the damp chill of it lingering in the night air. Dead and decaying leaves slid underfoot. A dog barked somewhere. Derek paused, tracking the sound and smelling the air, then nodded like it was far enough away, and continued walking.

'If I finish this,' he began. 'If I even seem close to finishing, you need to take off.'

When I didn't answer, he said 'Chloe...' But I couldn't, I wouldn't leave him out here alone. I _**knew**_ Derek he would never hurt me, I just had to get him to see that.

'You aren't going to turn into some bloodthirsty monster Derek. It'll still be you, just as a wolf.'

'And you know that based on how much experience with werewolves?'

'Okay, but–'

'You could be right, Dad said it would be like that, still me in wolf form, but after what those guys did? Playing with our genes? I have no idea what will happen. So you're getting out of here when the time comes or you aren't sticking around at all.'

'Derek you won't hurt me.

'I won't, I can't take that chance.' His eyes glittered with emotion and his face scrunched in pain.

'Fine, as soon as you sprout fangs and a tail, I'll run screaming for the bus stop.'

'You can skip the screaming part.'

'We'll see.'

We walked until the floodlights from the parking lot barely pierced the trees. The moon was shrouded in cloud. Whether it was a full moon or not didn't matter. A werewolf's Changes had nothing to do with the moon cycle. When it happened, it happened, whether the timing was convenient or not.

Derek slowed, scratching his arm through his shirt. 'There's a log here, if you want to sit and wait. I'll get a little deeper in, I'm sure it's not the prettiest sight.'

'I've seen it before.'

'If it goes further, it'll be worse.'

'I'm fine, I can handle it.'

When we entered a small clearing, Derek pulled off his sweatshirt. Under his t-shirt, his back muscles rippled, like snakes were trapped under his skin. Having seen this before it didn't bother me, but it did remind me of something.

'On second thought, maybe I can't watch. Unless you bought a change of clothes, you really should get undressed this time.'

'Right. Hold on.'

He disappeared into the brush. I turned around. A couple of minutes later, the leaves crackled as he came out.

'I'm decent,' he said. 'Got my shorts on. Nothing you haven't seen.'

My cheeks flamed at the memory, which was stupid because seeing a guy in his boxers shouldn't be any different than seeing him in swim trunks. I'd seen guys in their underwear, pranking at camp by running around our cabins, and I'd laughed and hooted with the other girls. But none of those guys had looked like Derek.

I turned slowly, hoping it was too dark to see my blush. I shouldn't have worried, Derek was on all fours, his head down, breathing in and out, like an athlete preparing for a run.

I blamed the note Simon had left, the image of the Terminator still lingering in my brain. But that's what Derek looked like, the scene where the Terminator first arrives, and he's crouched, naked-not that Derek was fully naked or as pumped as Schwarzenegger, but he didn't look like a sixteen year old kid either, with a muscular back, bulging biceps and...

And that was enough of that. I looked away to scan the forest and took a few deep breaths of my own.

'Sit here.' Derek pointed to a clear spot beside him where he'd laid out his sweatshirt.

'Thanks.' I lowered myself onto it.

'If it get's too bad, go. I'll understand.'

'I won't.'

He looked at the ground again, eyes closed as he inhaled and exhaled. His back spasmed and he winced, then stretched, his breathing deeper.

'That's a good idea, Stretch and work it out-' I stopped. 'Okay I'll shut up now. You don't need a coach.'

He gave a low rumble that took me a moment to recognise as a laugh. Once I did a warmth spread throughout my stomach, I was glad I could make him laugh, take his mind of the Change, if only for a second.

'Go ahead. Talk.'

'If there's anything I can do, I know there probably isn't, but...'

'Just be here.'

'That I can manage.' I realized his skin hadn't rippled in a while. 'And we might not even have to worry about it. It seems to be passing. False start, maybe. We should give it a few more minutes then—'

His back shot up, body jack knifing as he let out a strangled cry. He managed two panting breaths before convulsing again. His arms and legs went rigid. His back arched to an unnatural high, spine jutting. His head dropped forward. His skin rippled and his back went even higher. A long whimper bubbled from his throat.

His head flew up and, for a second, his eyes met mine, wild and rolling with pain and terror, even more than the first time because then, as scared as he'd been, he'd known this was natural, that his body would take him through it safely. Now, knowing about the mutations, he had no such guarantee.

I wasn't sure how to soothe him, how could I when I didn't know what these mutations had done to us? Could I give him false hope, no, it wasn't false hope, there was always a chance, he would be fine. Derek was strong, the idea he wouldn't make it through this, no, no, he would be fine. The other possibility didn't bear thinking about. Just the thought of it gripped my heart with terror.

His fingers dug into the moist earth, the tips disappearing, the backs of his hands changing, tendons bulging, wrists thickening. He let out another cry, swallowing the end of it as he tried to keep quiet. I reached out and lay my hand on his. The muscles bulged and shifted. Coarse hair sprouted and pushed against my palm, then retreated. I rubbed his hand and moved closer and whispered that he was doing fine, that he would be okay.

I heard the bus leave and in the silence that followed all I could hear was Derek gulping for air.

Then he convulsed again. His head shot up and he spewed vomit into the bushes. Wave after wave of convulsions rocked him, each one emptying his stomach until vomit dripped from every branch and the sickly smell mingled with the sharper stink of his sweat. Hair sprouted and retracted as he dry heaved, painful heaves that were horrible to hear. I rose onto my knees and rested my hand between his shoulder blades, the coarse hair covered most of his body, only his face remained uncovered.

His back muscles continued to twist and shift under my hands, his skin soaked with sweat and covered with coarse hair that wasn't retracting, but growing longer. His hands turned to paws and his face turned towards mine.

'Leave, now go.'

'What, why?'

'This is it, you've got to go.'

'No I'm not leaving you.'

'Chloe—'

He didn't finish his body spasmed one more time before he changed completely. In front of me was a wolf, a dark brown wolf. Derek was a wolf. That statement echoed around my mind, I knew Derek was a werewolf but to actually see him... It was amazing, I knew it was him, his body may have changed but his eyes had remained the same.

I laughed as I saw Derek stretch and turn in circles trying to see the rest of his body. I reached forward to touch him but stopped short. What if he didn't want me to, touching his wolf form may be different to touching him normally. I didn't have to worry though as his head had started to prod at my outstretched arm.

I smiled before stoking his head, my body shook as the cold wind blew against me. Derek cocked his ears before lying down on the ground and looking at me expectantly. Did he want me to lie down next to him? I guess I was taking too long to decide as Derek had got up and pushed me down before curling his body against mine. His body shielded me from the wind whilst his body temperature kept me warm. I smiled, even as a wolf Derek was still making sure I was ok. I turned to him and whispered,

'I'm glad you managed to Change, I couldn't bear seeing you in that much pain anymore.'

My eyes fluttered shut as the days events caught up with me and sleep claimed me.

_AN: Hope you all enjoyed it, if anyone has any ideas or wants to let me bounce ideas of them please leave a review or e-mail me. My address is above._

_I've been thinking about adding some chapters in Derek's point of view, either within this story, or as a separate story that can be read alongside this one. If any one has any thoughts on this please let me know..._


	2. Chapter 2

_AN: Here's chapter two, hope you all enjoy it. As always you're welcome to leave reviews either on here or at my e-mail address __rockchick134hotmail(dot)com_

_I hope you all enjoy it. And thank you to everyone who reviewed, placed a story alert or added this as their favourite this story._

_Sorry about the first chapter, I'm new at this and didn't realise how different it would look compared to the Word Document I type it onto. I'm learning though, and I will try to figure out a way to have a gap between the author's note and the actual story, otherwise I'm guessing it's probably a little confusing._

_Thanks to everyone who read this, there were over a hundred views!!!! You guys have no idea how excited that made me when I saw!!!_

_Disclaimer: All the characters are the property of Kelley Armstrong, I mean no harm in using them._

I woke up suddenly, something had touched me. I turned around looking to see what it was. I blushed when I realised it was Derek's arm that had flung itself across my stomach. He was no longer in his wolf form, he must have changed back once I'd fallen asleep. I blushed again realising that he wasn't wearing anything other then his boxers which seemed to be a little tight, oh, OH...

God, I was exhausted and embarrassed and after spending some of the night out here on the damp, muddy floor I was dying for a proper bed and a shower. I vaguely remembered a motel at the bus station. We could spend the night, or what was left of it there, and then make our way to Andrew's, after a hot shower. Plus all teen horror movies started with two teenagers alone in the woods at night, there was no need to tempt fate.

I rolled onto my back and turned my face towards Derek's. Oh, his acne had disappeared, his skin was as clear as mine, looks like the puberty smack down had had more supernatural roots. Derek would be pleased, well not pleased but he would be glad to have people stop talking about him and having to shower twice a day. After a few minutes I realised I had been staring for long enough. I shook his shoulder lightly,

'Derek, wake up, come on.'

He grunted lightly before turning over and falling back asleep. Great so he was one of those boys, impossible to wake up. I tried again, after a few attempts Derek was up.

'Come on we can sleep in a bed tonight, there's a motel by the bus stop, we can spend the night there and then carry on with our trip in the morning.'

All of a sudden Derek was alert, he jumped up, scanning the surrounding area before hoisting me to my feet and pulling me towards the bus stop. Was he forgetting the fact that he wasn't exactly dressed? Walking out of here like that would only cause us more problems. I dug my feet into the ground causing Derek to come to a halt,

'Um, D-Derek, you-your not dressed.'

A light blush covered his cheeks, letting go of me he jogged back to his clothes and put them on, quickly covering himself. He turned to me and said,

'Come on, we have to get out of here, it's not safe, not for me and not for you whilst you're with me...'

'Wait, what do you mean, not safe? What's wrong, what's out here?'

'Nothing, come on, we have to get to the bus stop now, the longer we're here the worse it'll be.'

'Ok, let's go, we can see if there's a bus leaving anytime soon.'

We walked back to the bus stop in silence. I sneaked glances at Derek every couple of seconds, his jaw was tight and his eyes never stopped scanning the area. He also seemed to be sniffing the air, what was he looking for? Had he found something last night? I figured I could ask once we'd got onto the bus and Derek had relaxed a bit.

We rushed towards the bus stop ticket booth and Derek told me to wait whilst he approached the man behind the counter. Derek and the man talked for a few minutes before the man looked over at me suspiciously and started to argue with Derek. I walked over thinking it was better to intercede now before something worse happened, after all we'd need to get tickets from here, there was no where else.

'What's going on?'

'Nothing, come on lets go.'

Derek pulled me off towards the motel, well at least that was good, I was in dire need of sleep.

'He said there's no bus heading towards New York until tomorrow night. There's been some sort of strike so there'll be no other buses either. I think we should be safe in the motel until tomorrow as long as we don't go outside.'

'Ok, not that I'm not glad we're stopping here overnight, but um-um why isn't it safe? This isn't anywhere near the Edison Group and we're not approaching anyone that could get us caught.'

'The Pack, this is their territory.'

'The Pack?'

'A werewolf pack, any wolf not in the pack knows to avoid them. They don't deal nicely with lone wolves, mutts. We've lived pretty much everywhere, but dad always avoided here, just to be safe.'

'Oh god, Derek we can't stay here then, if they smell you we don't know what'll happen. We can't risk that. Come on we can get a taxi or something. I have my backpack with me and it's got my money in it. We should have enough, if not we can stop and you can use my card to withdraw some more maybe we should...'

'Chloe. We don't have your card, or the money. It's in my backpack, which I left on the bus.' He cursed himself under his breath.

'You were in no shape to be remembering anything last night. I should have thought to grab yours.'

'But _**you**_ were worried about _**me**_. Never mind, we'll have enough. I've got about a hundred...'

'And I've got eighty.'

A pause. Then the sound of hands slapping fabric, like he was patting his pockets.

He swore. 'It must have fallen out. Let me check where I left my jeans.'

'I know I had-' He stopped and swore again. 'No, I moved the money to my jacket, which I left on the bus.'

'Eighty dollars should cover the bus to New York and a night in the motel.'

He strode towards the motel muttering, 'Stupid, stupid.'

'Like I said, you had other things on your mind. We both did. And neither of us is used to playing fugitive yet. We'll learn. For now, let's get inside. I'm freezing.'

The inside of the motel was blissfully warm. The clerk behind the counter looked to be asleep. I wandered over to him and woke him up.

'A room please, twin beds.'

'Sure, ID please, you look a little young.' He turned to Derek and gave him a look over before glaring. Derek came forward moving me to the side.

'I've got ID, Chloe doesn't. That gonna be a problem?'

'How old are you?' The question wasn't directed at Derek, it was for me.

'F-fifteen.'

'Just barely, I'll bet.' He shook his head. 'Running away from home. I'd bet on that, too.' His voice softened. 'That's not a road you want to take, kids. Speaking from experience, it is not the road at all.'

Derek sidled closer, gaze fixed on the man, so intent I'm not sure he'd heard a word he'd said. I caught Derek's attention, not sure he'd notice, but he did, nodding absently, letting me know he was still in control.

The man continued, 'Whatever is going on at home, it's not as bad as you think.'

I lifted my gaze to his. 'And if it is?'

A pause, then a slow, sad nod. 'All right. Maybe that's so. It happens, more than you think, but there are other ways to deal with it. Places you can go. People who can help.'

'We're fine.' Derek said, his voice a low rumble.

The man shook his head. 'Your not fine, son. You're, what, seventeen? On the run? Sleeping in motels?'

'We're fine.' Derek's rumble had gone lower, a growl now. He cleared his throat and eased back. 'We appreciate your concern, sir.'

'Do you, son? Do you really?' He shook his head. 'I'll get you a hot meal. Make some calls. Find you a place to stay.'

'We can't-' I began.

'No one's going to send you home.'

Derek started again, 'Sorry, sir. We can't do that.'

Derek waved to me and motioned towards the door. I took a step towards the door before a hand clamped down on my shoulder.

'Let her go.' The growl had returned to Derek's voice.

'No, son. I won't hurt your friend, but I'm going to take her inside and call someone who can help. You can come with us, but that's your choice.'

'H-Honestly, we're fine. We're on our way to friends in New York, we're just stuck here until tomorrow. If-If you really want to help you can give us a room, please.'

'Alright honey.' He remained looking at us sceptically before saying, 'It's on the house. We don't have twin beds, so you can have two rooms or share?'

Derek answered before I could. 'We'll share.' He took the offered key and we walked off towards our room. That had been close, a little too close. We'd have to be more careful next time. Well, hopefully there wouldn't be a next time.

Derek opened the door, it was an old key, not one of those new card keys. The room was nice enough and it looked clean. I walked over to the bathroom stopping to tell Derek I was going to take a shower. He'd only grunted in reply from the window where he was scanning outside.

The bathroom was also clean and held essentials like toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner. I stepped into the shower after the water started to run cold I got out and brushed my teeth. Changing quickly into a t-shirt and a pair of shorts I left the bathroom.

'It looks better now, I'm sorry bout the colour...'

'It's ok, I know you didn't mean it, you just chose something different.'

'Yeah but there's no point. Anyone can tell it's fake. Wash it out. We'll buy some of that red stuff that you like so much.'

'Really?'

'Yeah.'

Before I knew it I had crossed the room and had flung my arms around Derek. It wasn't the hair dye, well ok, part of it _**was**_ the hair dye. But it was everything else aswell.

_AN: I hope you guys all liked it, leave me your thoughts, If anyone could tell me if you think the style follows Kelly Armstrong's it would be helpful, as this chapter is almost completely my own work._

_Thanks =)_


	3. Chapter 3

_AN: Thank you to everyone who had anything to do with the last chapter I posted. I'm feeling pretty hyper and happy at the moment so I'm trying to write as much as possible, which sounds fantastic, but I've been having some major problems trying to write in the characters from the Pack. So please bear with me as I try to get a handle on the extra characters._

_And if anyone wants to know why I'm so happy it's because I received my IGCSE results and I got... so far, an A* in Spanish, and A* in english literature, and A* in history, and A in maths, and A in geography, an A in english language and a B/B in science. And an A in Spanish at AS Level._

_Anyway so I hope you all enjoy the chapter and please leave me a review with any thoughts, praise or criticism. As always your welcome to send mail to my e-mail address rockchick134hotmail(dot)com_

_Disclaimer: The books and its characters are all property of Kelley Armstrong and I mean no harm in using them._

After our hugging (albeit slightly cliché) moment, Derek had awkwardly removed himself from my arms before sending me to bed. I'd complained only to have Derek ignore me. I was getting more worried now, I didn't need Derek falling over from exhaustion. I'm pretty sure that would be more then I could handle, physically and mentally. I tossed and turned in the bed unable to sleep, my previous need to sleep had disappeared the moment Derek had said _**he**_ wouldn't be sleeping.

I got out of the bed and Derek turned to me and raised an eyebrow in an unspoken question. I walked over to him and sat down next to him on the large armchair he was sitting in. I curled up into his side, instinctively seeking his body warmth in the chilly room. I was no longer afraid to get to close to him, I had always known he wouldn't hurt me, but before he had seemed to shy away from my touch, now it seemed like he was more comfortable with it, or that he would tolerate it. Well, that was what I was hoping...

'Derek?'

'Yeah Chloe?'

'Come to bed, we need to rest, looking out the windows not going to help. We-we're stuck here for the night, so, we should make the best of it. We'll sleep and be rested for whatever we'll have to face tomorrow.'

'I can't sleep, you go to bed. I'll be fine, we'll leave as soon as we can tomorrow and I'll sleep on the bus. Ok?'

'N-n-no. You can still see out the window from the bed and you wake up so easily, you'll hear it before anyone manages to get into the room. So let's just sleep, ok? Because I'm not going to sleep until you are going to.'

Derek stood up before leaning down and helping me to my feet. We walked over to the bed, both stopping awkwardly at the foot. Now this might be a problem. We knew there was only one bed, but I'd never actually considered sleeping next to Derek. Oh god, what happens if I roll over in my sleep and snuggle up to him? That wouldn't be awkward at all the next morning. I might as well just get into the bed, Derek and I could sleep next to each other, I mean that was the only choice, or at least the only choice I would consider.

Derek climbed into bed after me and we lay down in silence. I knew most likely Derek wouldn't fall asleep, but at least he would be able to doze in a comfier place. I was so tired my eyes started fluttering closed and within minutes I was fast asleep.

I had been asleep for only a few hours when the motel room door was opened. I shot up scrambling to wake Derek but found he was already in front of me facing the intruder. It was too dark for me too see more then outlines but the guy standing in the doorway was big. Much bigger then Derek. From Derek's posture I could tell he was a werewolf as well, his back was completely rigid and his lips were curled up and a low growl was being emitted.

Oh God, what should I do? I had to interfere before something bad happened. The Pack couldn't be cruel enough to hurt a teenager, could they?

The man was pushed to the side and the second intruder flicked on the light. I blinked a few times, trying to adjust quickly to the blinding light. I gasped quietly when I saw who stood before us. A couple stood before us, there was nothing obvious about it, but there seemed to be this energy between them, I suppose the matching wedding bands also gave it away. The women walked over, arms raised in the air, stopping a few feet away from the bed. She seemed to pause to think before saying,

'I'm Elena, the man in the doorway is Clayton. We were wondering if it was possible to speak to you?'

The man, who I had secretly dubbed muscleman, snorted loudly from the doorway, I guess he didn't want to only talk to Derek. In a movie he would play the role of enforcer, I could imagine him as a mafia thug...

Derek seemed to be frozen in place, his nose was turned up and he seemed to be continuously sniffing the air... I wondered what was going on... was there something in the air? Before I could contemplate anything for any longer my mouth opened and words shot out before I could even think about what to say.

'No, you can't take h-him, we're not doing anything w-wrong, we were just passing through and got stuck h-here. We'll be leaving in the morning and you can just for-forget us.'

'Sorry darling, that's not how it works.'

Muscleman stepped further into the room, his words were contrite but the tone of his voice was anything but, he seemed almost... bored. I turned to Derek begging him with my eyes to snap out of whatever funk he was in. It seemed to work.

'If I go with you, she walks away,' Derek said, 'Right?'

'No,' I whispered. My mouth dropped open in horror, was he, was he giving himself up for me?

'No, she comes with us, she knows what we are, so she comes.'

'Then I guess we're not coming with you. She's an innocent and only here by accident. It's me you want, not her.' He punctuated his statement with a low growl that sent shivers running down my spine.

'Your right, it is you we want to talk to, but she knows so she _**has**_ to come too,' Elena stated.

I slipped out of the sheets and stood next to Derek, I figured we might as well go with them, right? I mean we couldn't escape right now, there was one door and right now it was blocked. The window was an option, and Derek would probably make it, but me aswell? I didn't think so, there was no way I'd be able to outrun two werewolves. Maybe, maybe there would be another chance if we went with them...

I turned to Derek and lifted up on to my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his ear. My back was turned to Elena and the muscleman but I knew Derek wouldn't let anything happen to me.

'We should just go with them-'

'No. You're not coming with us. I'm gonna go and you'll go to Andrew's house and meet up with Simon and Tori. Ok? You'll be fine, and that right now is all that matters.'

'Derek, no. I'll go with you ok. Please, please listen to me? Just this once?'

When Derek answered he wasn't looking at me, in fact he wasn't even talking to me,

'We'll come with you, let us just get our stuff together.'

Neither of them replied. I walked towards the bathroom, making sure not to walk anywhere near them. I collected the few things I'd left in the bathroom and walked back out. As I took in the scene before me a strangled scream left my mouth...

_AN: I'm sorry that it's so much shorter then usual, but I figured that you'd prefer a short update over no update._

_Sorry about how long it's been, but Sixth Form is harder then I thought and with all the extra work I'm doing, I really don't have much free time. Hopefully I'll update the next chapter quickly =)_


	4. Chapter 4

_AN: I'm so so sorry over how long it's been since I last updated._

_I have no excuse, I've been trying to write whilst I have the time, but at the moment time is the only thing that I don't have. Sixth Form is so much harder than IGCSE's and I'm working really hard to keep my grades up, therefore updates will be slow._

_I hope that you think the story is worth waiting for._

_As always I appreciate feedback and your welcome to e-mail me at the following address rockchick134hotmail(dot)com._

_DISCLAIMER: The books and the characters are ALL property of Kelly Armstrong and I mean no harm in using them._

Oh God. I'd only been gone a few seconds, a minute or two at the most and Derek, Derek was lying on the floor with his hands tied together and a rapidly swelling eye. I opened my mouth to scream again but the air was trapped, I couldn't scream, nothing would come out. Panic flooded my body, I could feel everything. The blood pounded around my body, I could feel it pulsing in my ears, the hairs on the back of my neck were erect, everything was so vivid...

Time seemed to stop as my eyes flickered around the room, trying in vain to take everything in. Muscleman was pushing Derek towards the door, his hands were tied behind his back but it was his eye that worried me. It was badly swollen and blood oozed from a cut just under his eyebrow.

I tried to move towards Derek but my feet were stuck, I couldn't move, I couldn't think. The blood pounded through my body, I could hear it rushing through my ears. My heart felt like it was being clenched in the palm of someone's hands, my breaths got shallower and shallower until all I could hear was my own wheezing. The air just wasn't coming through...

My vision was sprinkled with black dots and before I could take another breath my world went black.

_AN: I know it's short, but I thought that it worked better this way. So because this was so short you should expect chapter 5 with the next 2 weeks or so =D_

_Hope you all enjoyed it..._


	5. Derek's POV

_AN: This is part of the first and second chapter written from Derek's point of view. It's something I've been thinking of doing for awhile, and this part was already done from the summer, so I thought I'd upload it whilst writing Chapter 4 of Learning to Live and to Love._

_I think seeing it all from Derek's point of view is interesting as it lets you have a look into Derek's mind and see how he's feeling about everything. I think that he's a very complex character that sometimes gets the short end of the stick, so this is my attempt to bring his character forward._

_I'm not sure if this will become a regular thing, but I might occasionally try to add a small piece from Derek's point of view every once in a while._

_As always I appreciate reviews and feedback. I hope you all enjoy it._

I uncurled myself from Chloe's body, I could hear, see and smell everything. Right now the tantalising smell of rabbit could be smelt everywhere. Chloe would be fine for a few minutes... if anything happened to her I would hear it and be back within minutes. The wolf growled, it was torn in two, on one hand it wanted to remain here and protect Chloe but on the other hand all it wanted was to explore, everything felt new, my body felt different, everything was... new, untouched, untainted.

My mind made up I turned and ran through the woods, and it was unbelievable, I felt so free, the wolf howled, finally free and satisfied. The pain of all the false changes was worth it. I would go through it all again in a heartbeat if it meant that the outcome would be the same.

I caught the scent of a fresh rabbit trail, mmm... this is what I had been dreaming of. I chased it and running as fast as I could, eventually the rabbit tripped and I caught it before feeding until my stomach was full. The urge to roam, hunt and kill was now under control, the restlessness disappeared.

I returned to Chloe at a slower pace, there was no reason to rush... no reason to rush, there was reason to rush. The pack, how could I have forgotten about _**them**_. I shot forward trying to get to Chloe as soon as possible, if anything had happened to her, God, I don't know what I would do. I've known her for such little time yet she seems to mean more to me than I could ever have thought she would, it seems as if she could eventually mean everything to me.

The run back to Chloe gave me time to think, I realised I had no idea of how to change back. Dad had never mentioned what I would need to do, did I just need to think of it? Was there some specific action that needed to take place? Everything I tried was in vain, my body would not respond. My wolf form was useless at the moment, there was no way I could communicate with Chloe like this. I sat back on my hunches, looking over Chloe and the surrounding forest. If I couldn't make us move, the least I could do was make sure we were safe until Chloe woke up.

_So I am working on giving you a regular chapter update, hopefully there will be something uploaded in the next few weeks._

_As always feedback is welcome, on here or to my e-mail address which is rockchick134hotmail(dot)com._

_Thank you all so much for reading._


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